„Most educators are familiar with student response systems (SRS) a.k.a. clickers. Common brands are eInstruction, Sentio, TurningPoint, Activote. Those who use the systems know they run about $2,500 – $4,000 (depending on various options selected) for a class set and allow educators to track student learning, engage an entire class as they collect real-time responses from students, and enable them to quickly assess understanding and achievement. While these are valuable instructional outcomes, clickers are costly and the distribution, collection, and maintenance of devices is rather cumbersome. In many cases using them requires training to figure out how to upload the software, input questions, maneuver from one question to the next and share answers.

Here’s the thing. You don’t spend money and professional development time to purchase clickers. You can capture student’s thoughts and ideas for free using whatever device they have whether it’s a dumb phone, tablet, or laptop. „